Fantasy Baseball 2013: Overhyped Players You Must Avoid in Your Draft

As you get ready for your fantasy baseball draft, there are a few players that you really need to stay away from.

There are always a number of players that look appealing after what they did the previous season. If you look a little closer, you can see some real signs of concern for these guys.

No one wants to pick a bust. It kills your team, and then you are stuck sifting through the players available to find an unlikely gem. In order to avoid this tragedy for your team, here are a couple of guys you can let someone else pick up.

Chris Sale

The young starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox had a tremendous season in 2012, but he’s not the answer for you if you’re looking for a consistent pitcher all season.

Sale went 192 innings last year, but signs of injury should keep you away. He was shut down twice last season due to issues with his shoulder, and that could be an even bigger concern in 2013. Will Carroll does a great job explaining the injury risk to Sale here.

Sure, he had a great season last year, but the risk of injury could seriously hurt your pitching lineup. Look for someone else who is a lot less likely to get shut down.

Did you pick Pujols last season? Did you find yourself crying for the first month? Maybe picking him again this year isn’t the best idea.

It’s hard to believe, but Pujols is now 33 years old, and it is looking like age is beginning to slow him down. His batting average and on-base percentage have declined now for four straight seasons. He didn’t hit a single home run for the first month of the season. He may have ended the year with 30, but that kind of drought has to be concerning.

Pujols is certainly an appealing pick, but you need to look for someone else unless he falls late into the first round.

Yu Darvish

Darvish was yet another player to come from Japan with a lot of hype. There were a lot of question marks early in the year, but he fixed them for the most part.

There’s one question that needs to be asked for Darvish. Is he bound to be another Dice-K?

Daisuke Matsuzaka was a very appealing pickup for the Boston Red Sox, but the romance ended quickly. He struggled with his WHIP, failing to get less than 1.3 in his career.

Darvish had the same problem in his first season. He had a WHIP of 1.28 and an ERA of 3.90. Sure, the 191.1 innings pitched and 221 strikeouts were nice, but allowing that many batters to get on base is a real problem if it isn’t addressed.

With a team like the Texas Rangers, it was easy for Darvish to get 16 wins. They had the most runs as a team in the MLB with 808. They had a .446 slugging percentage, the second best in the majors. The wins for Darvish are misleading of him as a pitcher, and without Josh Hamilton, this team won’t be the same.